NAIROBI, Kenya — An African Union-created task force working to secure COVID-19 vaccines says Russia has offered 300 million doses of the country’s Sputnik V vaccine.
The director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, said in a statement Friday that the body is “tremendously proud” to offer the doses to Africa’s 54 countries. The statement says the Sputnik V doses will be available in May.
The AU previously secured 270 million doses from AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. As the African continent continues to wait for vaccine deliveries from the global COVAX initiative, the Africa CDC has encouraged the pursuit of doses from bilateral arrangements and other sources.
The African continent has barely seen large numbers of doses arrive. Health officials have spoken about growing tensions and inequality with richer countries that have stockpiled vaccines.
The goal is to vaccinate 60% of the African continent’s population as soon as possible to achieve herd immunity. Officials say that taking too long could mean COVID-19 becomes endemic in parts of the continent of 1.3 billion people.
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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— ‘Alone’: A year later, how Italian town with country’s 1st known virus death fared
— Africa reaches 100,000 known COVID-19 deaths as danger, vaccine concerns grow
— Old habits imperil Iraq as doctors warn of second virus wave
— Joe Biden will use his first big presidential moment on the global stage at Friday’s Group of Seven meeting to announce that the U.S. will begin releasing $4 billion to supply poor nations with coronavirus vaccines.
— Millions of vulnerable U.S. residents will need COVID-19 vaccines brought to them because they rarely or never leave their homes.
— The large number of restaurants that went out of business due to the pandemic has been a boon for commercial auctioneers that buy used equipment and resell them to the eating establishments that managed to stay afloat.
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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
HONG KONG — China’s Sinovac delivered 1 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac to Hong Kong on Friday evening.
Government officials approved Sinovac’s two-dose vaccine on Thursday. The semi-autonomous city is relying on three vaccines and has purchased 22.5 million doses in total.
Priority groups include health care workers and those above the age of 60, as well as essential workers. Online appointments will begin on Tuesday.
The city is also expecting 1 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine by the end of February. It has also purchased Astrazeneca’s shots.
Sinovac has yet to publicly release clinical trial data from its last stage of testing, drawing criticism for lack of transparency.
The Hong Kong government says the Sinovac vaccine has received unanimous approval from an expert panel of 12. The panel as well as the city’s health officials reviewed Sinovac’s early-stage trial data, as well as interim data from the last stage of clinical trials in Brazil.
Sinovac’s vaccine was approved for general use in China earlier in February.
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BERLIN — The head of Germany’s disease control agency warned Friday that the drop in new coronavirus cases has levelled off even as the share of more contagious variants is rising.
Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute, said Germany may be heading toward another “turning point” in the pandemic after weeks of falling infections.
His agency reported 9,113 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past day, and 508 deaths. Germany has recorded almost 2.4 million cases and 67,206 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Earlier this week Health Minister Jens Spahn said the share of the more contagious variant virus first detected in Britain has reached about 22% in Germany, from 6% two weeks ago.
Spahn told reporters in Berlin that the government wants to double the number of vaccinations in the coming weeks, from about 140,000 per day at present.
Germany has administered almost 3 million first doses since late December. More than 1.5 million people have received their second shot.
Spahn confirmed a report by weekly Der Spiegel that the government has appointed a special adviser for vaccine production to liaise with manufacturers and speed up the delivery of additional doses to Germany.
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ALGIERS, Algeria — President Abdelmadjid Tebboune says Algeria will start producing Russia’s Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine in six or seven months.
The announcement came Thursday in a televised address. Health Minister Abderahmane Benbouzid said earlier this week that the vaccine will be produced by state laboratory Saidal. They did not provide details about production plans.
Algeria, a longtime Russian ally, used Sputnik to launch its vaccination campaign last month.
But some doctors have complained that initial deliveries of 50,000 doses of Sputnik and 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine fall far short of need.
Algeria is also expecting deliveries of China’s vaccines and is eligible to receive vaccines through the COVAX global program for developing countries.
New infections in the country have stabilized in recent weeks, and the government slightly relaxed curfew rules last week to let hairdressers, gyms and some stores to reopen.
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Multiple vaccination locations in the Portland area have been forced to close Friday and Saturday because of snowy and icy weather.
That means about 10,000 appointments must be rescheduled. In addition, COVID-19 shipments to the state have been delayed due to weather.
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GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Vaccine developer Novavax has agreed to provide 1.1 billion doses of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine for use in more than 190 low- and middle-income countries.
The company said Thursday it has reached agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to provide the doses to the COVAX Facility, a project led by Gavi, the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
They’re working with groups including UNICEF, the World Bank and charities to guarantee equitable access to vaccines against the coronavirus to all countries.
Novavax Inc., of Gaithersburg, and the Serum Institute of India, a top maker of vaccines for poor countries, will manufacture and distribute the Novavax vaccine. It’s still in two late-stage studies, one in the U.S. and Mexico and the other in the UK.
Novavax said testing has found the shot works against the original COVID-19 strain and two variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa and now circulating widely.